Six Lessons Learned from a Year of Lockdown

I don’t even know how many lockdown related posts I’ve written now, where I’ve started with an introduction about how it’s been for me. From lockdown diaries to my take on how to cope with ANOTHER lockdown. In June 2020 we started slowly creeping out of our first lockdown in the UK. A whole 2 months later than we’d all thought it would be – it felt like a big deal back then. Imagine how, over a year later, and 3 lockdowns in, this one is feeling.

When the first lockdown ended, I sat on a Sunday and thought of all the things I’d felt I’d learnt from it. The things I’d learned from lockdown. I talked about socialising, being motivated, having a reflection on where I was in life. But add on the rest of lockdown time and I feel like I’ve learned so much more!

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0.1 Kindness matters

Being kind is important. People need it – and you feel better when you’re being kind. One of the biggest lessons from lockdown that a lot of us learned was that kindness makes all the difference. Working in customer service, I definitely noticed two types of people; those who were kind and those who were not so much. When it was tough in the midst of a lockdown, with absolutely no signs of going back to normal, simple acts of kindness meant everything. Something so simple as checking in on your friends with a nice message or posting them something nice. It would put a smile on their face.

Kindness is definitely something I’ve always thought I have, but now it feels more noticeable. I feel like I’ve grown kinder after lockdown, and want to carry on with the kindness outside of it. A valuable lesson from lockdown well learned!

0.2 That includes kindness to yourself!

Of course, we all had self-love a bit rubbed in our faces – but there’s reason for it! Rushing around constantly and not making time for yourself is key for your happiness and your health. And it can be so easy to do, you just have to know how and what works for you. Maybe it’s spending time outdoors, or spending an evening with your skincare routine. Or maybe it’s doing nothing at all.

0.3 You win when you enjoy yourself – find out what makes you feel happy and do it

Whether it was learning a new creative craft, or working through online courses, it’s exciting when you learn what interests you. On top of that I found things that I already knew I enjoyed, but had somehow just completely forgotten about. That busy lifestyle pre-COVID. Spending more time in the garden during lockdown 3.0 gave me a love of gardening – even if it is an amateur skill for me at the moment. I got the camera out and completely forgot how much I’d enjoyed my photography A Levels. And I took up fitness – something I hadn’t really tried hard with since my university days.

My other advice on this is if you think you’d enjoy a hobby, or if you want to try something – do it! Make time to try it out, and don’t be afraid to go for it. I thought I might like doing up my mum’s old racing bike. I mean it’s not finished yet, but I’m still loving it as a project. The difference is that I didn’t think about why I shouldn’t do it (money being spent, maybe I’ll cock it up, etc etc). Instead I just went for it and gave it a go. As far as lessons from lockdown go this is probably my biggest, and I can’t recommend it enough.

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0.4 It’s just fine to be doing nothing sometimes

I wouldn’t say I was a ‘go-getter’, but I was nearly always on the move. And if I wasn’t going anywhere I was still always doing something. If I had the telly on you could bet I’d be doing something on my laptop or something while I was watching. But, with the lockdown I found that a mixture of running out of stuff to do and having too much time to fill meant that I sometimes ended up just sitting doing absolutely nothing. And it was quite nice actually.

Now, especially with the weather picking up a bit, I spend time just sitting on the back step of my garden watching the birds. Something I’d have said was lame years ago. I quite enjoy just having a wander around it and looking at how my plants are coming on. If lockdown taught me anything, it’s that my work life is hectic, and there’s no avoiding that. But, that’s even more reason why my leisure life shouldn’t hectic as well.

0.5 It’s okay to say no – but it’s even better to say yes!

Once we came out of the first lockdown, and travel was allowed again, I climbed Mount Snowdon. Something I thought I’d never do. It was hard work, the weather was dire, it exhausted me for about a week afterwards – but I loved it. And it gave me the need to do more.

0.6 I love events

I’m an event manager, and being without live events made me realise just how much I love them. Not only not being able to attend events, but the hustle and bustle of organising them from the sidelines. Now it seems like we may be coming closer to the end of lockdown, and events are starting to creep out again, I’m already signing up to steward at events. I just can’t wait to get back at it.